DEPTH FORCE: The Art of the Submarine Adventure

Irving A. Greenfield's "adult" submarine adventure series, Depth Force, is comprised of seventeen paperback volumes, sixteen of which are numbered. I've not read any of them, so I can't say that they conform to any real continuity as far as what is expected from a series, but if you are interested in knowing such details, or whether the ambitious plot synopsis' found on each book's back cover (re-typed here under each cover) actually adhere to the story found inside (hint; they don't!), and perhaps more about Greenfield's abilities as a writer, I suggest visiting GLORIOUS TRASH, where blog host Joe Kenney valiantly reviews volumes 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8, respectively. He also bravely critiques one of the author's more salacious novels from the swingin' Seventies, Making U-Hoo, which Dell published in paperback in 1973. Odds are that Irving A. Greenfield (1928-2020) will be remembered more for his sexploitation novels than for his many science-fiction, military, adventure, historical and submarine novels, which, under a plethora of pseudonyms, may in fact number in the low hundreds.

"Who was making U-Hoo? Was it Pam, who wrote poetry, but whose real talents lay in the art of love? Or Sandy, an undercover agent who operated best under covers? Or Lois, with her own very effective ways of converting men to women's lib? Or Flosie, a beautiful black massage parlor Ms. who gave satisfaction guaranteed? Some investigations have to follow a trail of cold corpses. Bart Sherriff was far luckier. He had to follow a trail of lovely warm bodies..."

THE COVER ART on the Depth Force series is uniformly excellent, design wise too. So far I've identified two artists who were chiefly responsible for that success: Norm Eastman, who painted the cover of Volume 8, and may have produced some of the earlier volumes too, and James Dietz, who painted volumes 9 thru 16, as well as the non-numbered volume published between V.'s 8 and 9. 

 

Norman Robert Eastman (1931-2007) started out in the 1950's and 60's illustrating men's magazines before moving on to producing hardcover and paperback book covers, many of which are outstanding and extremely memorable. He was an extremely prolific illustrator.

 

James "Jim" Dietz  (b. 1946), at the young age of 74, is still very much active as a painter, but after a long period producing book covers for a variety of publishers, he now applies himself almost entirely to military and aviation art; his specialis.

Depth Force 1, by Irving A. Greenfield (Zebra, April, 1984).

"The SHARK is a unique high technology sub built in secrecy, launched in silence, and manned by a phantom crew. It's America's only hope to keep the Russians from dominating the seas, but its mission can never be known or admitted. As far as the Pentagon is concerned, the sub doesn't exist. should it ever be in danger of capture, the orders are explicit: self-destruction of the ship and all its crew. That means no room for anything except victory or death. And in a clandestine underwater war being fought with the Russians, the only way to avoid a deep water grave is to dive deep and strike hard!"

Depth Force 2, Death Dive (Zebra, November, 1984).

"Far below the threatening seas, America's secret high technology submarine, the SHARK, is racing toward a deadly confrontation with a Soviet killer sub. They both hope to salvage an incalculable fortune in gold from an ancient wreck-- or join that ill-fated ship forever on the ocean bottom. But the SHARK, with its unique capabilities and hand-picked crew, seems ready for anything-- except treachery? There's a leak somewhere and it isn't in the sub's hull. If the SHARK'S existence ever becomes known, it would mean the death of every man aboard. And with the Russians ahead and a turncoat within, the SHARK'S next crash dive might be its last."

Depth Force 3, Bloody Seas (Zebra, April, 1985).

"Under the ice in the Soviet Arctic, America's top secret high tech submarine, the SHARK, is about to blast its way to the surface. Up above, in a cove on the Russian mainland, a special six-man undercover unit is counting on the American sub to save them from capture. The information they carry is vital-- and the SHARK is the only vessel with a chance of getting them out. But underneath the arctic ice, a Soviet killer sub is silently stalking the American intruder. And when the two subs meet, the frozen waters will explode in geysers of blood and steel!"

Depth Force 4, Battle Stations (Zebra, July, 1985).

"When U.S. Intelligence discovers that Russia's most lethal submarine lies crippled at the bottom of the ocean, they instantly dispatch our own high-tech killer sub, the SHARK, to blast the enemy vessel into oblivion. The mission appears to be simple-- until the SHARK reaches the coordinates and finds itself surrounded by an armada of Soviet warships! Now it's one U.S. submarine against the massed might of the Russian Navy. The hunter has become the hunted-- and the ocean shudders from the monumental battle as sailors find either death or glory in a blood red sea!"

Depth Force 5, Torpedo Tomb (Zebra, February, 1986).

"Commander Jack Boxer and crew of America's high-tech submarine SHARK are temporarily assigned duty on the experimental submarine U.S.S. TURTLE. utilizing retractable tank-like treads, the TURTLE has been designed to travel overland as easily as beneath the sea-- the ideal vessel to spirit a Special Forces assault-and-rescue team into Libya to bring out a group of American captives with information vital to the military high command. The Pentagon brass know the dangers of sending a radically new and untested submarine into battle, but for them the gains outmeasure the risks. And every man aboard the TURTLE knows the risks will be measured by victory or deep water death."

Depth Force 6, Sea of Flames (Zebra, June, 1986).

"When a renegade U.S. naval force steals America's high-tech nuclear submarine SHARK, the North Atlantic becomes the launching pad for World War III. With its missiles programmed to strike at the heart of the Soviet Union, the former captain of the SHARK, Jack Boxer, takes command of an attack sub to search for-- and then destroy-- America's greatest underwater weapon. Except Boxer knows better than anyone else that a mere attack sub doesn't have a chance against a weapon as awesome as the SHARK. His only choice, though, is to either die in combat or on dry land-- because if the SHARK manages to fire its deadly load of nuclear missiles, all of mankind will burn in a sea of flames!"

Depth Force 7, Deep Kill (Zebra, November, 1986).

"Cloaked by thick clouds of the summer monsoon, the fourteen-vessel Russian invasion fleet plows through rain-lashed seas toward the Arabian coast-- and a mission that will forever change the balance of power in the Middle East tinderbox. Five thousand feet below the storm-tossed surface, America's newest high-tech super sub BARRACUDA silently stalks the Soviet armada, waiting for the command from Washington that would give the ship's deadly blue-laser guns their first taste of Russian blood. But Commander Jack Boxer and his handpicked crew don't know that a Russian suboceanic leviathan is closing in behind them, that the BARRACUDA has been drawn into a trap... that the waters will soon erupt in explosions of blood and steel!"

Depth Force 8, Suicide Run (Zebra, March 1987). Cover art by Norm Eastman.

"Deep below a towering iceberg, a Russian nuclear-powered sub glides through the ice-clogged waters of Antarctica's Southern Ocean. Its mission: control of the entire offshore mineral wealth of the world's southernmost continent. A mission that must be stopped! On top-secret orders from the Pentagon, American's newest high-tech super sub BARRACUDA speeds toward the Soviet colossus on a search-and-destroy interception course. But Commander Jack Boxer and his handpicked crew know that heart-stopping danger lurks beneath the frozen sea-- that Soviet Commander Viktor Borodine's orders are to send all intruders to an icy grave. And with the BARRACUDA nearing its deadly rendezvous, the ocean depths will soon explode into the silent hell of battle as underwater warriors fight for power, glory or death!"

Depth Force 9, Death Cruise (Zebra, September, 1988). Cover art by James "Jim" Dietz.

"Forced with court-martial on trumped-up C.I.A. charges of piracy, Admiral Jack Boxer is offered a grim choice: accept disgrace and possible imprisonment, or an almost certain doom beneath the waves. The United States' most hated foes, Iran and the Soviet Union, have joined forces to construct a secret undersea base for a remarkable fleet of deadly mini-submarines, and Boxer and his crew are dispatched to the Persian Gulf to destroy the awesome installation. Aboard the nuclear sub, the courageous American seamen find themselves in harm's way once again, heading alone and unaided into the razor-sharp pincers of an overwhelming enemy. And with a pair of hostile submarines closing in for the kill, the bluejackets must make a desperate, impossible stand, racing towards one final explosive confrontation in a bloody red sea!"

Depth Force 10, Ice Island (Zebra, December, 1988). Cover art by Jim Dietz.

"Deep beneath the frigid arctic seas, two awesome machines of destruction stalk each other in a deadly game of hide-and-seek. One is the new super-high-tech breed of American submarine, the S99, under the command of Admiral Jack Boxer. The other is a Soviet killer sub, determined to prevent the S99 from carrying out its mission, regardless of the cost. On the surface, a Russian transport plane has crash-landed on a giant ice island. Aboard is a defecting Soviet bio-geneticist, carrying the formula for a new strain of bacteria. America wants him, and the S99 is assigned the rescue mission. But the Soviets want him back, and will stop at nothing to get him. So the deadly game goes on, with the future of the free world at stake."

Depth Force 11, Harbor of Doom (Zebra, April, 1989). Cover art by Jim Dietz.

"Sleek and swift, America's newest and most sophisticated undersea vessel of war, MANTA, Under the Command of Jack Boxer, is running a deadly race against time. Fanatical Red Army terrorists have stolen three Chinese submarines: a "boomer" with nuclear warheads aimed and triggered to wreak flaming destruction on everything within a 5000-mile radius, and two hunter/killer subs as escort. They plan to hold the world hostage with the threat of nuclear holocaust while they slip undetected into Pearl Harbor, there to re-create the destruction of the U.S. Pacific fleet, this time from beneath the seas. If their plan succeeds, terrorism will dominate the world. It's up to Boxer and his crew, aided by the most advanced detection and destruction gear ever mounted in an undersea vessel, to stop the plot dead. But time and numbers are against them. Their only hope is to strike and strike hard-- to shatter the placid waters of Pearl Harbor with geysers of blood and steel!"

Depth Force 12, Warmonger (Zebra, August, 1989). Cover art by Jim Dietz.

"In the frozen wastes of Arctic Siberia, Russia has developed an ice-free submarine run by nuclear power. But a mutineering officer, Admiral Popov, has seized control of the station, threatening to decimate the West by means of a nuclear holocaust. Admiral Jack Boxer and the crew of the super-sub MANTA have been ordered by the president of the United States to dismantle the base and destroy this latest threat to the free world once and for all. But as the MANTA storms to the scene, it is caught in a desperate race with a powerful Russian ship out to regain control of the nuclear base, no matter the cost. Yet Boxer and his men know that even if they beat the Red sub and vanquish the warmonger Popov, they will have to triumph over a ferocious fleet of enemy warships, hellbent on bringing them down to bottom of the sea in a water death."

Depth Force 13, Deep Rescue (Zebra, December, 1990). Cover art by Jim Dietz.

"America's secret high-tech submarine, the NARWHAL, was down, crippled far beneath the threatening seas. Commander Jack Boxer had given the order to change course but something went wrong. Either his command had been ignored or the equipment had malfunctioned. Whatever the reason, the doomed men of the NARWHAL had no choice but to send out a distress signal to the only other sub in the sector-- the Russian killer sub piloted Viktor Borodine. Boxer and his crew worked furiously to repair the massive damage, but every time they got a leg up, something else gave way. Then a saboteur was uncovered, then another. Not knowing who to trust, Boxer had to somehow uncover and contain the deadly saboteurs until his rescuers arrived; but then again, who's to say the Borodine wouldn't let the Americans die in their icy grave!"

Depth Force 14, Torpedo Treasure (Zebra, June, 1991). Cover art by Jim Dietz.

"When brigands board his pleasure craft SEA DOG in the South China Seas, Captain Jack Boxer finds himself the prisoner of an old Nazi U-boat commander with a strange tale of sunken treasure. Escaping under fire in a rusting U-238, Boxer returns with his old nemesis Russian Captain Viktor Borodine, to recover the remains of a WWII British cruiser carrying 500 million in Russian gold. But what the two men don't know is that they are being shadowed by Libyan-backed pirates ready to spread a bloody wave of terror beneath the silent seas-- and send the U.S.-Soviet mission to a watery grave in the name of Allah!"

Depth Force 15, Hot Zone (Zebra, February, 1992). Cover art by Jim Dietz.

"Aboard his sleek super sub the SSN-S1, U.S. Admiral Jack Boxer intercepts an urgent distress signal on satellite-relay. A soviet attack sub is down in the crushing depths of Arctic waters a thousand miles away in the North Pacific. Changing course immediately, Boxer heads to effect a dangerous deepwater rescue, but when he arrives, he makes a devastating discover: the Russian crew is already dead and the vessel riddled with high levels of lethal radiation caused by a mysterious "hot zone" of illegally dumped nuclear waste. Boxer's security report get buried in red tape by politicians controlled by private interests and both superpowers order no action taken. However, Boxer and his Soviet colleague, Commander Viktor Borodine, refuse to sit and wait for disaster. Hijacking the SSN-S1, they launch a secret mission to destroy the lethal blackwater dump site, evading covert "navy hunters" from both sides in their heroic battle to save the oceans. But Boxer's greatest challenge likes in wait for him-- a fleet of high-tech commercial ships with orders to blow him out to of the cold Arctic seas!"

Depth Force 16, Rig War (Zebra, August, 1992). Cover art by Jim Dietz.

"An American company has struck the largest deep-sea oil field in history off the coast of Java. Totally submerged equipment and living capsules run the super hi-tech Java Strike operation that will make the United States independent of all foreign oil. But sabotage threatens its future as wells are destroyed and hundreds of lives lost each month. The President contacts former U.S. Admiral Jack Boxer. Discharged from the Navy for pirating the SSN-S1 on his last mission, Boxer's a free agent, ready to serve his country again-- this time for a price. Together with his new business partner, ex-Soviet Commander Viktor Borodine, they head for Java in a refurbished SEA WOLF sub to stop the mounting destruction and plunge into full scale battle with a supercharged force of merc submarines. America's future and the lives of millions depend on Boxer's strategy to hit hard and run fast to win the deadly underwater battle!"

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE

Depth Force, Project Discovery (Zebra, May, 1988). This volume was not numbered, and as such it can be viewed as an incongruity. This also is the first confirmed cover art appearance of James "Jim" Dietz, who would produce all of the remaining covers in the series, from 1988-1992.

"The year is 1992. Hundreds of ships from across the globe, including the cream of the U.S. and Russian navies, converge on New York harbor in preparation for the most gala event in history-- the 500th anniversary celebration of Columbus' fateful landing. But from behind the Bamboo Curtain the Chinese super-submarine SEA DEATH sets out to transform the mammoth jubilee into an explosive nightmare of chaotic terror. Only Admiral Jack Boxer and the crew of the U.S.S. SHARK can divert the killer sub from its diabolical path. But to do so, they must form an alliance with the Devil, joining forces with the fearsome Soviet enemy in a desperate undersea battle that will ultimately determine the destiny of mankind."

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  [Copyright © September, 2020, Jeffersen]